What we do on a half day off...

Me and the hubs, we don't get much time off.  So when we have an afternoon... or a few hours... to unwind, we do something like this.  Which is to take Mars the Dog for a free for all in one of our favorite spots (Sebastian calls it Doggie Vegas because the beasts go nutty with each other there and then resume their normal lives when they have to go home.).  It's pretty much the best place ever.

Mars is ready to take off on his adventure with his peeps:

 

And then he misses Dad, so they hang out for a while:

 

Until he gets distracted with a passerby...

And then more... PARTAY!

While I enjoy the flowers and tall grass and lady bugs:

Mars keeps going (he totally wiped out right before I took this shot, but it obviously didn't phase him.):

 

And he's done.  Back by Dad's side:

 And one more visit with the wildflowers for me makes this a perfect few hours away from working:

What do you do with a day off (or a half day or an hour off?)

Top Five Tuesday:: Pants

Dresses and skirts are generally my thing, but I'll pop on a pair of pants on days when I feel more like focusing on the nitty gritty of life.  They automatically ground me and help me to get the job done.  I have no idea why.  They just do.  So here are some that I am into lately.  Which are your favorites?

(Stella McCartney .  There's a real good chance I'd trip and fall on my face while walking in these. But still... they're totally sexy.)

(Anthropologie)

(loving the red here.)

(Adorable.  I think these are from Chanel.)

 

(And the ol' standby... solid black velvet leggings. Nicole Miller)

p.s. I also love dickies, but I'm at a loss for finding a photo wherein a male is not modeling them.  Ah well.

Word for the Week:: Befuddled

So I was chatting with my pal, Meaghan, this weekend and the word, "befuddled" was used to describe a particularly loony situation.  Leave it to Meggy to bring such great words to light.  I was so delighted with the word, in fact, that I jokingly said I should use it as my Word for the Week (WFW!).  Haha... yeah yeah yeah... that would be awesome but, you know, it's not really a "pleasant" WFW (though I have to say it's a super fun word to say... akin to onomatopoeia- which will likely be my next Word for the Week.). 

Anyhow, as luck (or misfortune) would have it, "befuddled" suits me today.  Maybe a little too much.  The brain is mushy and ditsy and I'm way overdue to take some time off.  In my calendar, I've scheduled in a day off in another week (another suggestion from Meaghan).  I'm hopeful that, by then, my mental capacity is less like the love child of a 14 year old who just had her first strawberry wine cooler and a mad scientist and more like, say, oh I don't know, the love child of Coco Chanel and a monk.
Fingers crossed.

(Tin of vintage buttons from Milkyway Beads)

Into the weekend...

I wonder if you've seen these incredible art to life pairings that the fine lady over at Miss Moss has constructed (her blog has a wonderful diversity to it...never ho hum or same ol').  Have you?  If not, I've compiled a few of my favorites here.  If so, maybe you'll want to relive their greatness...

So what she does is match street style with classic paintings.  Like this:

 

and this... (holy perfection.)

And then she might take street style and match it with characters within period piece films  Like this one paired with a still from The Piano...

 

My first glimpse into this was from a guest post she did on A Cup of Jo a little while back.  Her subjects?  Sophia Loren and (gasp!) Gustav Klimt...

Can you even get over this? I sure can't.  

Hope you have a lovely weekend.  Doing anything special? 

Me?  I'm sure as hell going to enjoy this 80 degree sunshiny weather we have right now (while my peeps back east are dealing with another round of snowfall on April 1st.)  A bicycle ride, it is.

Happiness Inducer:: The Daydream Edition

Well, I sure as heck am still recuperating from being up 'til 4am finishing the new collection on the website, but I'll do my very best to get through this post without conking out and smacking my head on the keyboard. Soooooo....
Welcome to the launch of the Ciara Obscura Spring/Summer 2011 collection:  *Daydream*  This has been yet another labor of love, but I'm pretty sure I'm really happy with how the designs turned out.  I hope you agree!  Onto the unveiling of select pieces... (Want to see more? New website and more pieces can be seen here.)

 

 

 

 

 All model photos photographed by the wonderful Kiel Rucker.

.

A special thank you to the lovely models: Jennifer Borchert, Erika Leachman and Andrea Guillen.

And an extra shout out to the always inspiring Stephanie who helped out with the styling for the photo shoot.

Top Five Tuesday:: Mail Goodness

Those who know me well know that I still love good old snail mail (so much so that I kind of despise that term for it... I mean, are we that impatient with our lives that a few days is way too long to wait for a cute card or letter or lovely care package?  Well, sometimes, I suppose...).  I have a little belly flip every time I open the mailbox to find a piece of mail from a friend or family, tucked in there with the kazillion bills. And when the envelope is decorated all pretty like... that's happiness, right there.  So today's Top Five Tuesday will be my favorite things to spruce up your mail to those you love from the company Pink Olive, who (whom?  gah!  Why can I never get that right?) I just discovered in an email (go figure) from my friend, Meaghan, this morning. They carry all sorts of fantastic goodies from really wonderful companies.
Here.  See for yourself...

1. This packaging

 

2. and this packaging from Knot and Bow adds that extra pop of love to your mailings:

 

3. These adorable colored pencils , from Woodluck, can be used to deck out your card or letter with sweet colors and drawings.  I received a bundle of these recycled wood pencils from a former art student and I loved them.  So endearing, don't you think?

  

4.  Maybe throw in these cute pins, courtesy of Regional Assembly of Text (great name!) as a (eh-hem) hint for a little mail lovin' reciprocation.

 

5. And, of course, a lovely something to write your message on (also from Regional Assembly of Text):

 

There now.  Hop to it.  Make some one's day.

p.s. As it turns out, Pink Olive also carries the wraps I mentioned in this post.

p.p.s. The Ciara Obscura Spring/Summer 2011 collection launches tomorrow.  Stay tuned, peeps!

Word for the week:: Path

Just about to launch the Spring/Summer 2011 collection and I kind of feel like there's nothing to do after this except just stroll or run or skip along the path unfolding.  So that's what I'll do.

(Photo by one of my favorites, Irene Suchocki)

Into the Weekend...

These fabric gift wraps from Chewing the Cud are a really wonderful idea.  The "Give Wraps" come in a collection of series, like...

Give Luck:

  

Give Heart:

And Give Joy:

Can't wait to buy someone a special gift so I can work some magic with these.

Happy weekend, dear friends...

Yep.

Chalk it up to this rainy day and an impending sense of laziness, but , wow, am I in love with this bedroom.
I'm especially swooning over the door and the open window... makes everything so flippin' cozy.  I will pretend I am laying there for just a few minutes and then I'll snap myself out of it (bummer) so I can get some work done. 

Top Five Tuesday:: The Yums

I should probably reduce the amount of sugar from my daily intake, but really I never will.  I do love me some sweets.  Bask with me through my Top Five picks for sugary goodness...

French Macarons  from Sparkles Kitchen... Etsy's current Featured Seller!

  

Vegan Fleur de Sel Vanilla Caramels from Cupakes in Jars

 

Lynne's Sweet Shop Truffle Pops... oh my gosh!

These and...

these from Sweet Vegan.

Probably not the best subject to post about when it's almost midnight and I'm craving chocolate chip pancakes ( I'm salivating over here.)

Dig in!

UPDATE: Jacqueline from Cincinnati, Ohio is the Ciara Obscura blog giveaway winner!  Thank you to everyone who participated...

Word for the Week:: Invigorate

Holy wow, am I needing a pick-me-up.  I think no single day off in three weeks finally caught up with me and... smack.  Pooped.
I started this new thing, lately, which is if I can't take a full day off, then I'll give myself little breaks maybe every few days, for a couple hours.  This has helped, but I've yet to make it consistent in my routine.  So here's to making it happen from this week forward.  I'm hopeful that it well help to reinvigorate me when the weight of the work load lovingly beats me down.  I'm lucky that I , at least, enjoy what I do most days.  Other days... eh.  But there's a balance.
That extra dose of energy, vibrance and gusto will have to come in the following forms...

* Morning and afternoon tea

(Sarah Moldovan)

* Breathe in the rain

 

( Dovie Moon)

* And then the sunshine

 

( Sixth and Main )

* Follow with a cat nap

( ValeriaH )

* Or a few swigs of espresso should do the trick

 

( Gallery 32 )

Into the Weekend... Peace within the chaos

 I'd like to reflect a bit on the people of Japan.  Their level of respect and connectedness and compassion for each other amidst the catastrophic events and chaos over there is honorable and noteworthy.  There has been a striking lack of vandalism, looting and violence... things that seem to happen at alarming rates in our own neck of the world during natural disasters.  It's quite a beautiful thing to witness Japanese culture in this way through photos and testimonials from tourists and citizens alike.  I'm blown away.  Seriously.  (Can you tell?)
So here are a few great images of goodness to take with you into your weekend...

* I feel silly overusing the word "darling".  But I think it's appropriate here.

 

(Charlotte Taylor - discovered through DesignLovefest)

* Cute.

* and happily peaceful.

 

(I can't lift my eyes from this painting.)

Behind the Designs:: Photo Shoot

You know what's neat?  This is my 200th blog post.  And I had no idea until I logged in.  I started this blog with so much hesitancy a couple of years ago and now, as it turns out, I can't imagine not having this space to share my rantings on a nearly daily basis.  So YaY for this the 200th entry!  And I think it's good timing... I've evolved right along with my business and seeing the difference between where I was then and where I've gotten to now makes me realize just how much everything has expanded.  I like that... a real lot.

Anyhow, here are a few behind the scene photos from the S/S 2011 collection shoot last week.  I'll post some better ones when I get them from the photographer in another week or so, but these will do, for now.

 I got Mama protective with Kiel standing on that ledge with a 100 foot drop on the other side.  I (jokingly, of course) asked him where he keeps the photos and cash, in the event he goes over.  I am happy to report that he avoided any mishaps.  Here he is photographing Erika wearing, I think, a hair adornment.

 Backed into a corner, photographing Jennifer wearing a necklace.  He was capturing a really stunning backdrop that you can't see from this angle, but will be able to see in the final photo.

Somehow I got wrangled into this group shot (I think it was the last one for the day).  That's me front and center, with Jennifer and Erika looking so cute to either side.

 

 Pal extraordinaire, Steph (far left), helping to style the shoot, with Kiel directing model Andrea wearing a necklace, with Erika looking on.

 Steph styling Erika with a cluster of hair adornments.  I love this shot.

It was so much fun, you guys.  Kiel Rucker, as usual, was just perfect. And the models were beautiful.  I cannot CANNOT wait to see the final photos.  You, dear readers, will see them all when I launch the collection on my website in another week and a half.

Oh!  And Happy Saint Paddy's Day!
P.S. Feel free to hop on over to the Giveaway post and enter to win a grab bag o' gifts.